Yes, We Can! in the Place Where Trees Sleep

Yes, We Can! In the place Where Trees Sleep translates a few simple adventures into a positive message to children of "You can Do, and you can Be, more than you Can Imagine." Our book is populated with an ensemble of positive, loving, and uniquely diverse animal friends (and one mystical creature) who, while not currently of our world, are seen as familiar and even comforting to our readers. In this story, they want to hold a party to celebrate the success they had working together to help "I-take-my-home-with-me" (she resembles a puppy who has a turtle like shell) get back on her feet when she was stuck on her back. Four of the cast each undertake an adventure to bring back special woodland treats. In the process, each learns to overcome some perceived personal limitation or fear. Ideal for 3 to 10+ year olds.

Mike Kitchens and Suzy Lang. Mike Kitchens is a storyteller, artist, and (in his best role ever!) grandfather whose greatest joy has been seeing, experiencing, and sharing our world once again through the eyes of his family's and friends' children. After a successful career in business and consulting, Mike is living his dream helping other families capture special memories of their loved ones through his art. And now, through his books, Mike is fulfilling a lifetime promise to himself that he would find a way to combine his love of storytelling, artistic creation, and the wonderous imagination of children, to support and encourage them in their life's adventures. Mike's books are filled with color and wonderfully diverse and unique (but somehow familiar and very comfortable) characters, whose adventures are shared in rhymes, with stories that carry some of those same underlying themes that served him so well in his own life and career such as: choosing to be positive, valuing the differences in others, and working together. Mike believes that with these practices, we can make magic happen; and each of us can do, and can be, more than we might see.


Suzy's inspiration for working with the highly talented artist / illustrator Mike Kitchens was to create a series of beautifully illustrated picture books with unique and fun-loving characters that convey stories to children, that contain all the elements of any successful relationship (business, manager, friend, etc.). Simple adventures in a beautiful forest, filled with all types of characters, convey the value of inclusiveness, facing and overcoming challenges, teamwork, accomplishment, and personal growth to young children. These fun-loving and diversely talented characters embody the same attitudes and behaviors in their everyday adventures, as any "truly" successful team. Suzy explores new techniques for artistic expression, adding her love of color, adventure, and furry creature character peculiarities, to this series of highly illustrated children's books. Suzy is an abstract artist, cyclist, and skier, following 20 years of operating in a partnership, owning, and managing a DoD consulting firm. She thoroughly enjoys the outdoors and is fascinated by the immense spectrum of colors and beauty God has created for us.